Monday, October 8, 2007

Are Tierney & company tops?

Recent criticism must really be getting to the LPC if their chair feels compelled to trick a reporter into write a vanity piece about it:

"In addition to preserving history," [LPC Chair Robert Tierney] says, "landmark status on a building or a neighborhood can increase the appreciation on home ownership and immediately improve the reputation of a neighborhood."

In Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, the price of a brownstone in the designated historic district can sell for $100,000 to $150,000 more than a non-designated area with the same architecture three blocks away.

So they are admitting that preservation of neighborhoods boosts property values. How did they let that slip out? Now you understand why Queens is at the bottom of the barrel. It's called redlining.

I remember going to HDC some years back (at that time the landmarks law had been on the books for decades) on questions from the community on the impact that landmark designation has on property values.

They said no study had been done, but that they 'guessed' it was beneficial.

A real group of professionals.

Went out to a neighborhood that was landmarked and compared the designated buildings to identical structures across the street.

The contrast was obvious to the untrained eye.

It then occured to me why we did not get a straight answer.

I was from the wrong neigbhorhood. I was from Queens. I was getting a snow job.

But, that was not important. Their inept (non)answer had its intended effect.

The effort in our community without clear information and support from the broader preservation community stalled.

As was their intention.

When I see historic buildings torn down in my community and think that with a little support what could have been achieved.

I hope they enjoyed our share of their grants for efforts in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Ever notice that when a preservationist actually grows a pair and says something controversial about how a neighborhood is getting the shaft that the rest of the pack back away from them instead of backing them up?

Spotted a piece of Queens Crap in your community?

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Italicized passages and many of the photos come from other websites. The links to these websites are provided within the posts.

Why your neighborhood is full of Queens Crap

"The difference between dishonest and honest graft: for dishonest graft one worked solely for one's own interests, while for honest graft one pursued the interests of one's party, one's state, and one's personal interests all together." - George Washington Plunkitt

Sites that kick ass:

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